It was a beautiful day. After running a few errands, Ginny and I picked up some coffee and parked near the lake and watched the egrets float on the air just above the lake, stark white above the dark water.

It’s lovely like this and only a mile from our house. I couldn’t for the life of me remember why we don’t come here more often.

No, really. Busy. There was the month I worked as a bureaucrat for the Census. All that paperwork doesn’t get done by itself, Buddy. And there was the leaky roof. The tomato plants don’t grow themselves. OK, actually they do. But then I had books to organize… whole SHELVES of books. And, of course, the naps…

I’ll have some new posts soon. Really riveting stuff, I promise. Honestly. Just you wait…

Since 1905, when the Daughters of the Republic of Texas saved the Alamo from A Fate Worse Than Death, they have guarded their custodianship of Texas icon jealously.

Visitors are urged to be reverent of the Shrine of Texas Liberty. Independent historical interpretation is not encouraged. Only DRT-approved tour guides can give their spiel on what happened here during the 13-day siege that helped spawn Texas’ independence from Mexico. Protests and political rallies must he held off the Alamo grounds. Unless, of course, it’s a DRT political event. The Alamo is a sacred entity to the Daughters. Which is why, I suppose, they want to trademark it.

That way, the DRT says, they can produce a line of genuine & official Alamo merchandise. They forget one thing: the Alamo isn’t theirs. It belongs to the State of Texas, which means it belongs to the people of Texas. More importantly, the Alamo story is a global phenomenon. The history of the old mission-turned-fortress-turned-metaphor belongs to the world. How would you trademark, say, Gettysburg? Or trademark Utah Beach?